Irish rugby legends gear up for Limerick Gathering festival

The city gears up for the Limerick Civic Trust Legends International Tag Rugby FestivalAlan Place

Some of the best known names in Irish and international rugby have been confirmed as participants in a newly announced festival taking place in Limerick in October.

The Limerick Civic Trust Legends International Tag Rugby Festival will see some of the greats of the game togging out at the University of Limerick Sports Arena on 25-26th October. They include former Irish internationals Peter Clohessy, Keith Wood, Trevor Brennan, Shane Byrne and David Wallace, Women's Six Nations Grand Slam Winning international Joy Neville, former French international and the first man to lift the Heineken Cup Émile Ntamack, French international William Servat, and England’s most capped player Jason Leonard.

The competition will feature 25 Mixed Tag Rugby Teams from all over Ireland and overseas, each of which will include a Rugby Legend. Legends will be allocated to teams based on a World Cup-styled draw taking place on the evening before the tournament begins.

The Festival, which also will feature a range of other entertainment throughout Limerick City during the weekend, is being organised by Limerick Civic Trust and supported by the Irish Tag Rugby Association (ITRA), University of Limerick, Clohessy’s Bar and The Gathering Limerick. Funds raised by the event will go towards Limerick Civic Trust projects including a proposed permanent memorial to former Limerick sports men and women.

Dr. James Ring, CEO of the Limerick Civic Trust said: “The International Tag Rugby Festival has been months in the planning and we are delighted to be able to finally announce the event which forms part of the Year of the Gathering as well as being an important fundraiser for the Trust. We have received huge support from some of rugby’s biggest names and look forward to inviting tag rugby enthusiasts to tag a legend this October. Further information is available from www.tagrugby.ie.”

Simon Bewley, Director of ITRA commented: “The ITRA who founded and pioneered Tag in Ireland 14 years ago are very excited about this new ‘International Legends Tag Festival’ being hosted in Limerick. It is innovative and players will get the opportunity to not only meet their rugby legends, but actually play shoulder to shoulder both with and against their former heroes on the Tag pitch! Equally the legends will be able to squeeze into a pair of Tag shorts and see if they still have it! A great weekend of sport awaits.”

Former Munster and Ireland star Peter Clohessy added: “It will be great to see all the Legends of Irish rugby and overseas players tog out with the teams and with the Irish ladies to take part as well we are looking forward to a great weekend.”

Donal Fitzgibbon, Chair of the Limerick Gathering Steering Committee said the event will help to profile Limerick’s ‘lengthy and proud association with rugby down through the years.’

“As the home of Munster Rugby, Limerick has long been associated with some of the sport’s biggest names and we look forward to welcoming back some of these great players. This festival will help to further raise the profile of Limerick as a proud sporting city and county and is especially welcome as the city prepares to become Ireland’s first City of Culture in 2014,” added Mr. Fitzgibbon.

The Limerick Civic Trust Legends International Tag Rugby Festival is one of 161 Gathering Limerick festivals and events taking place during 2013. The Programme of events is being coordinated by the Limerick Gathering Team at City Hall. Other events scheduled to take place during the coming weeks include Limerick Pride LGBTQ Festival (30 Aug-8 Sep), The Knights of Westfest (11-15 Sep), The Paddy Dakar (20-22 Sep), Limerick International Fashion Design Week 2013 (29 Oct-1 Nov), and Richard Harris International Film Festival (6-8 Dec).